An "Intellectual" interview! Loved it! :)

Q: What is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar about, the Art of Living or the art of marketing?


Sri Sri: If whatever I have done becomes a model for marketing, I don't mind. But I don't know marketing. The product is so good it markets itself.

Q: People want a comfortable ground beneath their feet, you give it. They like catchphrases like 'Just do it', you give it. You charge good money, but make them feel good. So how is your organization different from Nike?

Sri Sri: What we give stays with you for a whole lifetime. It also heals people of social and physical illnesses.

Q: In the US, a few hours of your homilies cost $375? In India, the cost of a session is Rs 1,000. Are you only for the rich?

Sri Sri: The expenses in bigger cities are so much more. Our course charges are not the same everywhere.And people don't value anything you give them free. We found that out. Initially, we were giving everything free.

Q: What is the net annual earning of your organisation?

Sri Sri: We have created a number of organisations. Locally they raise funds. It is difficult for me to get an overall picture and I have never bothered. I am not so commercial-minded. If you ask me how many millions benefitted, I can say we have reached out to nearly 300 million people around the world.

Q: What are your immediate plans to expand the organisation?

Sri Sri: I never had plans to expand the organisation. Perhaps that's why it expanded so much (the famous giggle makes an entry). My present agenda is to bring peace to India and its neighbourhood...Sri Lanka and other countries.


Q: You seem to have answers for a war-torn Kosovo, a New York after 9/11 and suicidal farmers of Vidarbha. Is there a common thread in these answers?

Sri Sri: It is love.


Q: What would you call yourself: man, God or godman?

Sri Sri: I give people the freedom to call me anything. I don't label myself.

Q: Long hair is known to act as a halo. If you got a close crop and a clean shave, would you still be the same person to your followers? Without that hair and beard, would you have been Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to begin with?

Sri Sri: Absolutely. My internal does not depend on the external. But this has been a uniform for yogis for thousands of years. Either you shave everything or keep everything (giggles longer).

Q: There are a lot of young people who are part of your movement. They wear jeans, tattoos, attitude. What attracts them to you?

Sri Sri: We honour diversity. We don't impose a particular dress code on anybody. What attracts them to me... that you have to ask them. I think everybody is attracted towards love. Everybody wants sincerity, clarity of thought.

Q: Has any of them ever come to you and said, "You know, dude, it's not happening. You are no good"?

Sri Sri: I have faced angry young people in Iraq after the war, people without water or electricity.

In Manipur, youngsters have asked me: "What were you doing all these years when we were suffering? You and your NGOs have neglected us." The government has not been fair to them. They feel angry. But then, there was so much love in that anger.

Q: Do you ask people to shun sex?

Sri Sri: We definitely ask people to shun promiscuity. I am all for family values. I normally don't encourage people to have pleasure without responsibility.

Q: How about marijuana? Ecstasy?

Sri Sri: Drugs may give a temporary high but they destroy the nervous system. Why do drugs when you can get that high through vrath, meditation, bhajans? You can reach a greater high and sustain it.

Q: We have talked sex, drugs... what about rock-and-roll? Your guru Mahesh Yogi was very close to the Beatles, so was your namesake, sitarist Ravi Shankar. Do you like rock-and-roll?

Sri Sri: My kind of music is silence. I like soothing music, mainly Indian classical. I am not averse to rock. I have an ear for all types of music. I like some of Beatles too.

Q: You are going to share the stage with Narendra Modi and Uddhav Thackeray in a week or so. Do you subscribe to their brands of Hinduism?

Sri Sri: Uddhav Thackeray! (Turns to his organisers. They confirm the schedule. The programme is going to be held on March 12 in Mumbai.)

Uddhav Thackeray is coming for that, even Narendra Modi is coming?

(Turns to the interviewer) No, no. I have my own theory of universal knowledge. I don't believe in dividing people.

Q: Modi, particularly, is accused of inciting mass murder.

Sri Sri: I am fine with sharing the stage with anybody. I am not afraid that I would be influenced by them. If people get influenced by me, all the better. I wish people of diverse ideologies come and share the stage with me - communists, Hindutva people, Congressmen, jihadis, Naxalites. For me there is no untouchable.

Q: Are you planning to join politics?

Sri Sri: That's too small an area for me. I have grown out of it a long time ago. This field itself encompasses all other fields. But I would love the politicians to be more spiritual. Only then they can bring dignity to politics.

Q: Any message for Shivaratri?

Sri Sri: Shiva is the lord of panchabhoota, the five elements. We honour him by not polluting nature, by not insulting it with chemicals and fertilisers, judiciously using fuel.

Q: If you were to wear a T-shirt, what would be the line on it?

Sri Sri: (Thinks long and hard) I would put a mirror on the T-shirt. So you can see your reflection.